Video game devices are classified roughly into home and arcade ones in accordance with use. The home video game devices generally have a game device body and a controller such as a joy pad each with the game device body being connected, for example, to a home video monitor. When a cassette ROM is inserted into the game device body and a start button is depressed, a game program stored in the cassette ROM is read by the game device body. When the player manipulates the controller to give an operational signal to the game device body, the game program starts up in the game device body to produce a video signal and an audio signal, which are delivered to the video monitor and displayed as an image and outputted as a sound, respectively.
Many arcade video game devices have a cockpit-like housing in which the game device body containing game programs and a large display screen are provided. A manipulation seat on which the player sits is provided facing the display. The player views a game screen while playing the game by operating the control unit such as a steering-type input unit provided at the player's seat.
The direction of a traveler or vehicle (a travelable character) displayed on the video monitor or display is controlled by the player's operation of the joy pad and/or steering-type input unit in the video game device. There are various travelers. Some travelers are required to be controlled in two directions as the case may be. For example, some games have a war tank as a traveler. In this case, the two directions are the traveling direction of the tank itself and the direction of sight of a canon mounted on the tank. When the directions of the tank, as well as the sight of the canon, are controlled, two steering elements are required; a regular steering element and a second steering element for sight control. Alternatively, both a direction key and a steering element are provided and operated.
In many cases, the home video game devices have only a joy pad as a control unit. Thus, in many cases, the joy pad and a steering element are used in combination. When the steering element is manipulated while depressing a button switch on the joy pad, the direction of canon sight is controlled, while when only the steering element is manipulated, the direction of the tank itself is controlled.
However, when the two devices are provided separately to control the two directions of the same traveler, the whole control unit of the game device becomes large-scale and complicated. Since the player is required to operate the two devices simultaneously or in parallel, the manipulation itself becomes complicated and the direction control which the player is intended to provide cannot be provided timely as the case may be, so much so that the complicated direction control can reduce the player's interest in the game itself.